Written Language & Literacy - Volume 12, Issue 2, 2009

Previous studies have shown that segmental awareness tasks are usually influenced by the script. In this paper, we extend these studies further to propose a more concrete, script-centric metric for evaluating phonemic awareness in readers of Indian scripts. We propose that the ease or difficulty with which syllabic and phonemic segmental tasks are performed is directly proportional to the editing operations involved in applying the same task on the graphic form of the stimulus. We also present a computational model that calculates visual edit distances and uses these to determine if the phonemic task on any given word is easy or difficult. Finally, we tested the predictions of our model using Tamil data.

The Yi national minority of southwestern China has four distinct orthographic traditions: Nosu, Nasu, Nisu and Sani. All are based on traditional systems using the same logographic principle as Chinese writing and a few Chinese characters. Otherwise, they are very different, both from Chinese and to a lesser degree from each other. Since 1950, orthographic reform has taken place separately in the three main provinces where Ngwi or Yi languages are spoken. This process has been a top-down language planning effort, run by leaders and scholars from within the various Yi communities of each province. In addition, for local and scholarly purposes, the traditional scripts continue in use. This paper discusses and exemplifies the traditional and new orthographic systems and the process of reform which created three modern orthographies alongside the four traditional ones which also continue in limited use. The top-down process of script reform is parallel to other areas of script, language and other policy developments in China since 1950, with a centralised model that achieves some great successes and some failures, and going through a series of major changes affecting the way the languages of the Yi are written.

This article attempts to analyze the causes of the irregular readings of Chinese characters both in Mandarin and in Sino-Korean (i.e. Korean pronunciations of Chinese characters). Cultural taboo, avoidance of confusion and residues of historical and/ or regional sound changes are the main causes for irregular readings in Mandarin. Semantic readings, euphony, mismatched palatalization, confusion and erroneous readings are the main reasons in Sino-Korean, among many others. This article also examines how well the graph of a Chinese character conveys the sound if it is a phonetic compound, which consists of a phonetic element and a semantic element. The discussion highlights that the function of conveying the exact pronunciation of a Chinese character is not straightforward although DeFrancis (1984b: 19) suggests that “Chinese is basically a phonetic system of writing of the syllabic type.”

In the study of writing systems, there is an ongoing debate what qualifies an alphabet as featural. De Francis (1989) claims that Alexander Melville Bell’s Visible Speech (VS) is featural because Bell idealized the consistency of his VS’s C-shaped letters, which resemble the general shape of the consonants. But this consistency overwhelms the usefulness of the script. As a result, this consistent iconic alphabet ends up with many similar C-shapes that prove confusing. Therefore, it cannot be used as a universal phonetic writing system. The topic of the present paper is the Korean alphabet called Hangeul (= Han’gul). Sproat (2000: 138) classifies Hangeul as “an intelligently constructed segmental alphabet.” Against this view I will argue that Hangeul is not just a segmental alphabet, but the optimal featural system; that is, more than a segmental system that comes close to being a featural system but one that intentionally avoids becoming completely featural by including considerations of practicability.

This paper has three goals. First, it addresses the problem of ambiguity induced by a large number of kanji graphemes that are used in the current Japanese writing system. Secondly, it summarises and examines claims that this ambiguity is reduced by an orthographic device called okurigana. Thirdly, it argues that the disambiguating function of okurigana is seriously restricted by several constraints. To support this argument, a survey of the Joyo Kanji Hyo (i.e., inventory of kanji graphemes and their readings recommended by the Japanese Cabinet for daily use) is presented. The results of this survey demonstrate that even though okurigana actually disambiguates a number of kanji graphemes, it fails to do so in many cases because of the constraints. This indicates that a significant amount of ambiguity remains unresolved in the kanji script.

Maya hieroglyph writing was the prestigious writing system of the Maya civilization and was carved on stone or wooden monuments mainly during the Classic Period (ca. AD 250–900). Three types of voice (active voice, passive voice, and mediopassive voice) have been identified in Maya hieroglyphs. These three types of voice are not used randomly, and usually one of the three voice types is preferred for each verb. The choice of voice in Maya hieroglyphs seems to be constrained by the contextual nature of texts as historical records and the nature of the respective agent and patient. In this paper, I analyze what kinds of factors constrain the choice of voice in Maya hieroglyphic writing.

This paper addresses the use of emblems in the representation of language units in writing systems. The emblematic principle works in the early stages of writing as a transition to morphosyllabic writing; the Aztec manuscripts show the most typical examples of this. Phono-emblems function as subtitles or inscriptions to the pictorial compositions of common content. Language structure should be noted as one of the factors constraining the development of the Aztec script. It may be the polysynthesism of the structure of the Nahuatl language, which allows long series of syllables within an incorporative complex. Emblems are restricted to a certain number of positions, so they may not have been able to maintain the strict order of a morpheme row, as needed for predicative phrase; only name phrases with more transparent/predictable structure could be written phonetically. In modern writing, the emblematic principle is used along with the linearity principle: while the latter unrolls the text in the consequent order, the former represents hierarchic information as an integral graphic composition.